Toothbrush with tongue cleaner

ABSTRACT

A manual toothbrush has a handle with a head at one end of the handle having first and second opposing sides, the handle and head made of a first polymeric material. Nylon bristles are fixed to and extend from a first side of the head. A U shaped auxiliary member is made of a second polymeric material that is more flexible than the first polymeric material. The auxiliary member is co-molded with the head and extends partially around a periphery of the head with a first side of the auxiliary member adjacent the first side of the head. The auxiliary member includes a U shaped tongue cleaner projecting away from the second side of the head with an open side of the U facing the handle, and a plurality of projections projecting from the first side of the auxiliary member spaced apart from and substantially parallel to the nylon bristles.

This is Continuation-in Part of application Ser. No. 14/801,196 filedJul. 16, 2015 which claims benefit of provisional application Ser. No.62/161,819 filed May 14, 2015.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a toothbrush with an integral tonguecleaner.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

For years, dentists have recommended that persons brush at least twice aday and floss once a day to maintain healthy teeth and gums, and toprevent bad breath. However, many oral care experts do not mention thata very high percentage of odor causing bacteria are found on the surfaceof the tongue. Some dentists recommend that their patients simply brushtheir tongue, as they do their teeth. However, this practice is veryharsh and aggressive to the tongue, and can be very uncomfortable andunproductive.

Other inventions have attempted to solve this problem, however most havebeen very unsuccessful due to an array of reasons including for example:some prior art tongue cleaners, due to their irregular shape, can causethe user to experience a gagging-reflex and an abrasive feeling on thetongue's surface; and most tongue cleaners are expensive and difficultto manufacture, thus they are very uneconomical.

DISCUSSION OF THE PRIOR ART

U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,380 discloses a toothbrush provided with a U shapedtongue scraper. Other examples of toothbrushes equipped with tonguecleaners are disclosed in the following U.S. patent publications: U.S.Pat. Nos. 1,891,864; 4,455,704; 5,915,433; 6,647,581 B1; 8955190 B2;20120167319 A1; 20140325778 A1; D 162941; D 246878; D 377417; D 265270;D 284528; D 285389; D 295695; D 423785; D 423786; and D 727626 S.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

There is provided in accordance with one aspect of the present inventiona manual toothbrush has a handle with a head at one end of the handlehaving first and second opposing sides, the handle and head made of afirst polymeric material. Nylon bristles are fixed to and extend from afirst side of the head. A U shaped auxiliary member is made of a secondpolymeric material that is more flexible than the first polymericmaterial. The auxiliary member is co-molded with the head and extendspartially around a periphery of the head with a first side of theauxiliary member adjacent the first side of the head. The auxiliarymember includes a U shaped tongue cleaner projecting away from thesecond side of the head with an open side of the U facing the handle,and a plurality of projections projecting from the first side of theauxiliary member spaced apart from and substantially parallel to thenylon bristles.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 there is a perspective view of an exemplary toothbrush of a firstembodiment with the bristles pointing upwardly.

FIG. 2 is another perspective view of the exemplary toothbrush of FIG. 1with the bristles pointing downwardly.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an exemplary U shaped tongue cleaner notassembled with a toothbrush.

FIG. 4 is a top view of another exemplary toothbrush with the bristlespointing upwardly and having the tongue cleaner and the head of thetoothbrush molded together.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the exemplary toothbrush of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a bottom view of the exemplary toothbrush of 4.

FIG. 7 is a section view of the exemplary toothbrush of FIG. 4 taken atline 7-7 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is a top view of an exemplary toothbrush of the present inventionwith the bristles pointing upwardly and having the tongue cleaner andthe head of the toothbrush molded together.

FIG. 9 is a side view of the exemplary toothbrush of the presentinvention shown in FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a bottom view of the exemplary toothbrush of the presentinvention shown in FIGS. 8 and 9.

FIG. 11 is a section view of the exemplary toothbrush of the presentinvention taken at line 11-11 of FIG. 9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring first to FIG. 1 there is shown a perspective view of anexemplary manual toothbrush 10 with bristles 11 extending upwardly. FIG.2 is another perspective view of the toothbrush 10 of FIG. 1 with thebristles pointing downwardly. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of anexemplary U shaped tongue cleaner 20 not assembled with a toothbrush.The toothbrush 10 has a handle 12 with a head 13 located at one end ofthe handle. The bristles 11 are fixed to and extend from one side of thehead 13 of the toothbrush. Toothbrush handles and heads most often aremade of a polymer and the bristles are most often a nylon material. A Ushaped tongue cleaner 20 extends outwardly, for example about twomillimeters, from a side of the head opposite from the side of the headfrom which the bristles extend. The tongue cleaner 20 has an open sideof the U facing the handle 12. The U shaped tongue cleaner has aperiphery that is complementary to a periphery of the head of thetoothbrush.

The exemplary tongue cleaner 20 comprises a polymer that is relativelyrigid. The polymer may be any suitable polymer selected in accordancewith good engineering practices that does not have any adverse effectson the oral health of a user of the toothbrush. In the exemplaryprototype illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 the tongue cleaner 20 is adheredto an edge of the periphery of the head 13 of the toothbrush and extendsa distance of about two centimeters beyond the surface of the head thatis opposite from the surface from which the bristles extend. The Ushaped tongue cleaner is next to the outer peripheral surface of thehead of the toothbrush such that the tongue cleaner overlaps the head adistance of about one centimeter. The tongue cleaner may be fixed to thehead of the toothbrush in such a configuration using a suitable adhesiveor other suitable method of attachment. Alternatively the surface of thehead opposite the bristles may be provided with a ledge or groove forreceiving the tongue cleaner. It is further understood that the tonguecleaner may be co-molded or insert molded with the handle and head ofthe toothbrush.

Referring next to FIGS. 4-6 there is shown top, side and bottom views ofanother exemplary manual toothbrush 100 having a handle 112 with a head113 at one end of the handle. A U shaped tongue cleaner 120 extendsoutwardly, for example about two millimeters, from a side of the headopposite from the side of the head from which the bristles 111 extend.The tongue cleaner 120 has an open side of the U facing the handle 112.In this embodiment a U shaped tongue cleaner 120 is molded together withthe head 113 of the toothbrush as best understood by referring to FIG. 7which is a cross section taken at line 7-7 of FIG. 5. Of course ifdesired the U-shaped tongue cleaner 120 could be fixed to the head 113of the toothbrush using a suitable adhesive. In this embodiment aportion of the periphery of the head is adjacent and fixed to theU-shaped tongue cleaner and if desired bristles 111 may be fixed to andextend from the head 113 and bristles 114 may be fixed to and extendfrom the U shaped tongue cleaner. Put another way, in this embodiment anassembly of a U shaped tongue cleaner with the head of a toothbrush hasan internal periphery of a portion of the U-shaped tongue cleaneradjacent and fixed to an external periphery of the head of thetoothbrush, while the U shaped tongue cleaner projects from the assemblyin a direction opposite the direction that the bristles of thetoothbrush project from the head of the toothbrush.

Referring next to FIGS. 8-11 there is shown top, side, bottom and crosssection views of a manual toothbrush 200 of the present invention. Ahandle 212 has a head 213 at one end of the handle. The handle and headcomprise a first polymeric material As used herein and in the claims apolymeric material is understood to mean a substance that has amolecular structure consisting chiefly or entirely of a large number ofsimilar units bonded together, e.g., many synthetic organic materialsused as plastics and resins. The head has first and second opposingsides nylon bristles 211 fixed to and extending from a first side of thehead 213.

A U shaped auxiliary member 219 comprises a second polymeric materialthat is more flexible than the first polymeric material of the handle212 and head 213. The first and second polymeric materials may be anysuitable polymer materials selected in accordance with good engineeringpractices that do not have any adverse effects on the oral health of auser of the toothbrush. The auxiliary member 219 is co-molded with thehead 213 with the auxiliary member extending partially around aperiphery of the head with a first side of the auxiliary member adjacentthe first side of the head from which the nylon bristles 211 extend. Asused herein and in the claims “co-molded” is understood to mean twocomponents comprising two different polymeric materials that moldedtogether as a unit in one process such as dual injection molding,two-shot molding, two color molding, two component molding and/ormulti-shot molding. The auxiliary member 219 comprises a U shaped tonguecleaner 220 projecting away from the second side of the head with anopen side of the U facing the handle as shown in FIG. 10. The U shapedtongue cleaner 220 has a height. for example. of about two millimeters.The auxiliary member 219 further comprises a plurality of projections214 projecting from the first side of the auxiliary member spaced apartfrom and substantially parallel to the nylon bristles 211. As shown in aside view in FIG. 9 and in a cross section in FIG. 11 the projections214 project from the first side of the auxiliary member 219 a distanceless than a distance the nylon bristles 211 extend from the first sideof the head 213. As shown in a top view in FIG. 8 and in a cross sectionin FIG. 11 there are two rows of projections 214 projecting from thefirst side of the auxiliary member 219, and the nylon bristles 211extending from the head 213 are at least in part located between therows of projections 214 projecting from the first side of the auxiliarymember. The projections 214 function to aid the nylon bristles 211 incleaning the teeth and massaging the gums of a user of the manualtoothbrush 200.

It is understood that an auxiliary member as disclosed may be combinedwith a manual toothbrush having a handle of any suitable shape and ahead of any suitable shape, including rectangular, square or round.

While the invention has been described with reference to certainexemplary embodiments, obvious modifications and alterations arepossible by those skilled in the related art. Therefore, it is intendedthat the invention include all such modifications and alterations to thefull extent that they come within the scope of the following claims orthe equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A manual toothbrush comprising: (a) a handle witha head at one end of the handle having first and second opposing sides,the handle and head comprising a first polymeric material; (b) nylonbristles fixed to and extending from a first side of the head; (c) a Ushaped auxiliary member comprising a second polymeric material that ismore flexible than the first polymeric material, the auxiliary memberbeing co-molded with the head, the auxiliary member extending partiallyaround a periphery of the head with a first side of the auxiliary memberadjacent the first side of the head, the auxiliary member comprises: (i)a U shaped tongue cleaner projecting away from the second side of thehead with an open side of the U facing the handle; and (ii) a pluralityof projections projecting from the first side of the auxiliary memberspaced apart from and substantially parallel to the nylon bristles. 2.The manual toothbrush of claim 1 wherein the projections project fromthe first side of the auxiliary member a distance less than a distancethe nylon bristles extend from the first side of the head.
 3. The manualtoothbrush of claim 1 wherein there are two rows of projectionsprojecting from the first side of the auxiliary member and the nylonbristles extending from the head are at least in part located betweenthe rows of projections projecting from the first side of the auxiliarymember.
 4. The manual toothbrush of claim 3 wherein the projectionsproject from the first side of the auxiliary member a distance less thana distance the nylon bristles extend from the first side of the head.